Questions of the Day

I'm wondering.....

What made you take the first step to begin getting healthier?

Like, the literal first step?  What made you pull that workout DVD out of its dusty case?  What made you begin trying to keep track of what you eat everyday?  What caused you to decide that you have a goal, a plan, and a desire?

My first step came about with a conglomeration of fresh starts.

Me.  About 40 lbs ago.

Josh and I graduated from college and decided to move away from Colorado.  The little college town we lived in stifled us.  We weren't happy and we wanted to escape.  We weren't opposed to staying in Colorado, but we thought we'd take an even bigger risk and move to Montana. 

And we did.

We moved the week between Christmas 2007 and New Years 2008.  A new lifestyle (no more college living), a new job, a new state, a new year.  I'd known I needed to lose weight.  With both of my parents Type II diabetics, I knew I was heading down the same path.  I had already had to be mindful of my high cholesterol.  It was time to let that first step finally happen.  And then the second.  And then the third.

So that leads me to my next question.

What keeps you motivated to keep going?

If you don't have a bad day, then you're not paying attention to your own life.  Sorry.  That there's reality.  What has kept you going during those bad times?

My latest bad time was from about January to July of this year.  Major plateau.  And I quit my consistent exercise or even caring about what I ate.

I had to remember...

What keeps me going is the need to be healthy.  I'll never forget the first time I saw my dad after he had been diagnosed with diabetes.  He discovered it when he lost a lot of weight.  I had never seen my dad so thin.  My dad.  The man I considered Superman.  The man I thought would always be the big, strong beacon of stability in my life.  Hugging him freaked me out.  I could nearly touch my elbows. 

I want my health for myself, but also for my family.  If I can prevent my children from crying about how unhealthy their mother is, then I'll be happy.  I don't want to lessen my time with my husband or kids because I was lazy or didn't want to say no to the bag of cookies.  I really don't know how preventable my parents' health issues are.  I have a feeling they're more preventable than not.  But their health scares me and I want to break the cycle before it becomes unbreakable.

So leave a comment with your story.  Or blog it and let me know so I can read it. 

What made you take the first step to get healthy?

What keeps you going?